NFL Week 12 Power Rankings

2010 NFL Football Power Ratings

Each week during the heart of the NFL season, and once or twice during the NFL Preseason, we’ll gather the troops around the roundtable and hash out the NFL Power rankings. We check out the stats, looks at the records, and, most importantly, we take a close, close look at the heart of each team.

We encourage you to come back each week and see how the NFL Power Rankings have changed.

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There may be no dominant team in the league this year, but the good teams are starting to play with a little consistency.

But there are some interesting questions: Can New England continue to win while giving up huge chunks of yardage? Are the Jets lucky, good or both? Can defense game plan for Michael Vick? Can the Giants, who rarely play well late in the season, reverse history this year?

Does Richard Seymour have a future in mixed martial arts?  

To the rankings:

1. New England Patriots (1) – If Patriots can get past Detroit on Thanksgiving Day, they will have 9 days to rest and prepare for their third “Game of the Year” in four weeks – Dec. 5 at home against the Jets.
2. Atlanta Falcons (2) – Four of their final six games are against NFC South opponents.
3. New York Jets (3) – Good teams do indeed win these types of games, but the Jets could easily be 5-5 and pointing fingers instead of 8-2.
4. Philadelphia Eagles (5) – Always wondered what an NFL team full of Bob Hayeses would look like.
5. Indianapolis Colts (4) – Miles to go before the playoffs, but it looks like the Colts could be on the road in the first round of the playoffs – if they even qualify. Right now they’re 6^th in the AFC.
6. Green Bay Packers (6) – That wasn’t a victory over the Vikings and Brett Favre. It was an exorcism.
7. Pittsburgh Steelers (8) – Trap game this coming week at Buffalo before the showdown against the Ravens on Dec. 5.
8. New York Giants (7) – Running the ball is the Giants’ mother’s milk, but they just couldn’t get it going against the Eagles and it cost them the game.
9. Baltimore Ravens (9) – For a defensive team, the Ravens are becoming a pretty reliable Over pick.
10. New Orleans Saints (10) – Whodat Nation is starting to breathe easier now that Brees appears healthy and the team is starting to hit the accelerator a little harder.
11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11) – Bucs are also a solid team (7-3) against the number.
12. Chicago Bears (12) – It really frosts fans in Chicago that the 7-3 Bears aren’t getting much love nationally.
13. Jacksonville Jaguars (15) – Jack Del Rio can coach my team any time he wants.
14. Kansas City Chiefs (18) – Todd Haley seems to have no trouble shaking hands with the opposing coach after the Chiefs win a blowout.
15. San Diego Chargers (17) – Why should we be surprised? They do this every year.
16. Oakland Raiders (13) – Maybe Richard Seymour could give Manny Pacquiao a decent fight.
17. Tennessee Titans (14) – They need to make a playoff run while Vince Young is out for the year, Randy Moss is making only half-hearted efforts on routes and the fans are killing the coach on message boards. Good luck.



18. Miami Dolphins (16) – You think Bill Parcells knew something about this team that we didn’t when he bailed out a few weeks ago?
19. Dallas Cowboys (24) – Time for a reality check – next three weeks home vs. Saints, at Indianapolis and home vs. Eagles.
20. St. Louis Rams (19) – Three losses in four weeks have taken the shine off what had been shaping up as one of the biggest turarnounds in franchise history.
21. Seattle Seahawks (20) – After 11 weeks the NFC West division leaders have allowed 48 more points than they have scored…..but they’re still in first…ugh
22. Washington Redskins (27) – Yes the Titans had issues. But that was still a terrific recovery in Tennessee after the Skins were skinned alive by the Eagles in Week 10.
23. Houston Texans (21) – It’s obvious these guys just don’t know how to win. Wouldn’t have mattered if they had 13 defenders on the field during the Jets’ final drive last Sunday.
24. Cleveland Browns (22) – The playoffs have long been forgotten, but at least this season the Browns have figured out who will start at QB next season, and when was the last time they could say that?
25. San Francisco 49ers (23) – It’s hard to tell when it all started to go wrong for the Niners. Oh, wait. It was Week 1, wasn’t it?
26. Arizona Cardinals (25) – Cards have allowed more points than any team in the NFL, which is a real bad starting point even in the dysfunctional NFC West.
27. Minnesota Vikings (26) – Viking players said they were fine with Favre waltzing in after training camp was over. Wonder if they’d like to hit control-alt-delete and have that vote again.
28. Buffalo Bills (31) – They may be the NFL’s version of the Montreal Expos, but the Bills took out a season’s worth of frustration against the Bengals.
29. Detroit Lions (28) – The injuries to Stafford blew up the business plan in Detroit, but they’re still playing hard.
30. Cincinnati Bengals (29) – This team hates to make big changes, but the death certificate on this group was signed Sunday. You simply cannot blow a 21-point first-half lead to the Bills, give up 35 in the second half and keep your job in the ultimate bottom-line business.
31. Denver Broncos (30) – Early last season Josh McDaniels was the toast of the town. Now he’s just toast.
32. Carolina Panthers (32) – The hourglass sand is about waist high now around John Fox and he’ll soon be out of work, but no one else on the planet will be able to go to his grave saying he took a team with Jake Delhomme at quarterback and brought it to a Super Bowl.

Comment on the Power Rankings below, or as always hit us with your pregame NFL picks and predictions…

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Lawrence Paul is a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog, and is a free-lance gambling and travel writer from Massachusetts.